Pictured above: Huawei promoting its new P20 mobile phone that will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI). The huge flags of China are to celebrate National Day Week. Photo taken on my, er…hum… Huawei Nova 2, bought six months ago and already a relic of the past. All photos taken on 2018.9.28, at the Shenzhen Airport, on my way to a week of discovery in Hunan Province.
By Jeff J. Brown
“60 Seconds over Sinoland” are direct reports, live from the streets of China. They put into perspective, with the West, China’s social, cultural and political context. China truly is the “Greatest Show on Earth” and when you understand its past, present and future, the headlines you read finally start to make sense. For 5,000 years, Asia’s enigmatic colossus has been and continues to drive world affairs, much more than Euranglolanders want to admit.
Time to get smart.
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Huawei’s huge display at Shenzhen Airport, seen across a lower level mezzanine. Below is a conical laser focused on the huge fiber optic sculpture, which is very Alice in Wonderland, indeed. Oppo and Xiaomi also had big displays side-by-side, next to Huawei. Except for Alibaba and Baidu, the other big China tech firms had ads all over the place.
Huawei promoting AI on huge electronic billboards. The future is now in China.
Tencent, one of the big three China tech giants (along with Baidu and Alibaba), promoting cloud AI and retail sales. They are competitors, but they work together for added synergies (https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/05/08/declaring-war-on-the-united-states-hitting-trump-ma-yuns-biggest-revenge-yet-china-rising-radio-sinoland-180508/).
ZTE does not have AI in this huge ad, but notice they are still using Qualcomm chips. What happened? The US supposedly stopped exports to ZTE (https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/04/25/baba-beijing-is-going-to-shove-zte-way-up-uncle-sams-backside-china-rising-radio-sinoland-180425/).
Evidently, Qualcomm didn’t get the message either!
Vivo makes great phones. Notice the “AI” on the left. Vivo is also an official sponsor of the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia and they are still using it in their ads, above the “NEX” (https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/06/22/100000-chinese-going-to-the-world-cup-in-russia-with-no-team-to-cheer-for-china-rising-radio-sinoland-180622/).
China held an international “Internet of Things” (IOT) expo in Wuxi, in September (http://en.wiotexpo.cn/). Shanghai had another one in May (https://10times.com/iot-china). All the big and little shots from around the world came to participate in both. IOT cannot work without AI and China is at the forefront of both.
When checking in to fly to Changsha, Hunan, passengers were asked to sign a pledge that they were not carrying explosive, toxic, corrosive and radioactive goods, NOR a Samsung Galaxy 7, due to its propensity to have exploding batteries. Ouch! No tech company in world wants to see this happen to them.
For more information about China’s incredible drive to integrate AI into its economy, society and daily life, go to the section entitled “Artificial Intelligence” in the China Tech database below, where there are a number of interesting articles,
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I have to disagree on this one, Jeff: I grew up with electronics, and even I see little benefit to A.I. and I.O.T. Given the business models of corporations like Amazon or Uber, I see a further computerised economy as a threat to my and other people’s ability to make a living and ennjoy some “finer things in life” like libraries, brick-and-mortar stores plus recreational sites, or being assisted by a qualified person from an organisation specialised in a particular problem. Decades of tech marketing has taught me that larger-than-life hype for the “next big thing” is rarely true. I still don’t see A.I. capable of understanding context or nuance (e.g. Google recommending stupid or even outright evil YouTube videos which are somewhat related or similar to content I do find to be of value), and if it eventually reaches true sapience, what’s to stop it from going rogue on us?
Hi Sergio,
Thanks for your coherent justification. I now realize that I’m not getting comment notices via email, since it is set up to go to Patrice Greanville. I’m going to ask him to give me a new WP sign-in name with my email, so I can know when I get comments.
I think the Chinese can get away with all this technology, because their social hierarchy is inverted to the Western one. Here, the individual comes last and the leaders/government/nation come first. So, advancements are perceived and used for the greater good.
Cheers, Jeff